Hello Summer!
I can’t believe we’re nearing the end of June already… what a month it has been! Simply the best really because, as you know, it all started with a new baby joining our family on June 1st! Little Lady Amelia (as my older daughter started to call her) is just adorable. She’s growing speedy quick and is a great baby ;) I simply can’t get enough of those chubby cheekies on her!
Since our family and friends are making more visits to see the baby, I went and made something really delicious to have on hand when they come over.
These Raspberry Lemon Mini Vegan Cheesecakes were the perfect little dessert that made everyone happy ~ delicious, creamy and smooth with a lemony flavour and a fresh raspberry burst ~ oh my! These mini vegan cheesecakes are actually easy to make and healthy with all the good-for-you ingredients as they are raw, no-bake, vegan, gluten-free and paleo friendly. With a real melt-in-your-mouth goodness!
RASPBERRY LEMON MINI VEGAN CHEESECAKES :
RAW, GLUTEN-FREE, PALEO, SUGAR-FREE
Ingredients for the base :
3/4 cups almonds
1/2 cup dates, pitted
1/8 cup organic, naturally sweetened dried cranberries* (optional)
pinch of sea salt
1-3 tablespoons of water
Ingredients for the cheesecake filling :
2 cups raw cashews, previously soaked
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup water
juice of 1 organic lemon + zest**
1/2 cup pure light maple syrup
+ fresh organic raspberries and extra lemon zest for plating
DIRECTIONS:
Make the crust first: In a food processor, pulse all the almonds until a fine grind forms. (while it’s mixing you can pick the dates or prepare the other ingredients). Add in the dates and cranberries (if using), and pinch of salt. Continue mixing and check with your fingers if the mixture sticks in your fingers. (Be sure to turn off the mixer each time you check, and always form a habit of scooping with a spoon first!) If it’s too dry, add in water one tablespoon at a time. Mix again, check again. Once it sticks together and still falls off your fingers – it’s perfect.
Using a cupcake pan preferable a silicone one, press the mixture into the bottom evenly and set aside.
To make the filling: Soak the cashews for 1 hour in hot water at room temperature or overnight (6-8 hrs) in the fridge, strain well. Add all the ingredients into a clean food processor again : cashews, warm but not hot coconut oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, maple syrup, water. Mix on high for about 5 minutes until a very smooth mixture forms.
Pour over the bases in the cupcake pan. Tap the pan gently to let it settle. Place straight into the freezer for about 1-2 hours before serving. These defrost in just about 5-10 minutes in the refrigerator, and much faster at room temperature so give them enough time to defrost slightly before serving. Top with fresh raspberries, lemon zest and mint leaves to serve. Enjoy!
(If you want to keep them frozen for longer and just have them ready whenever the occasion calls for a great impromptu dessert. Simply freeze for 1-2 hours, then be sure to wrap the pan with plastic wrap as tight as possible and return to the freezer for up to 1 month.)
* if using cranberries, keep an eye on the ingredients as they could be artificially sweetened and coloured and have lots of sulphites. I used organic cranberries that are sweetened with grape juice. I find they compliment the taste of the lemon and raspberries really well. Don’t have them on hand? Simply add 3 extra dates to the base recipe.
**if you’re using zest in any recipe be sure to buy organic as lemons are coated in toxins to preserve freshness. If you really can’t get organic lemons, place the lemon in a mug and pour hot boiling water over the lemon to melt the waxy coating. Do this 2 more times and wipe well when the lemon is still warm.
I love making vegan cheesecake in mini size. They are the perfect individual serving and they look so pretty on a plate. Best of all is that they take so much faster to get finished as opposed to a whole cake because they don’t need so much freezing time and later thawing time. I started to make them at 1ish on a Sunday and they were ready to serve for 4pm. Amazing because with a large cashew-based cheesecake you need to plan the recipe well in advance. With these baby cheesecakes you don’t!
Also, if you’re having a few different get togethers, like we had, it’s nice to thaw out how many you need and they look perfect as if you made them just for this occasion. For a small gathering, it’s nice to share something delicious and homemade but something that doesn’t keep you busy in the kitchen for hours.
They were definitely enjoyed by my family and friends and me… because with a newborn keeping me busy, it’s priceless to sit for a few minutes and enjoy a perfect bite of an amazing lemony raspberry-topped vegan cheesecake! I even close my eyes and savour every morsel of the decadent flavour… yummmm ;)
So, thank you for coming to see my baby girl ~ and I hope you enjoyed these scrumptious Mini Cheesecakes!!
♥
Pure Ella
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Blogger, Recipe Developer, Photographer and Author. Loves healthy food, photography, sunshine and dancing in the kitchen with her two daughters. 
Oh wow! these look fantastic and your daughter is just pure perfection :)
Thank you Jackie ;)
I hope you will enjoy these mini ‘cheesecakes’ very soon!!
xo ella
Awesome — beautiful food and VERY cutie baby! I’d love to make these cheesecakes, but I’m allergic to almonds. Do you have an idea of what I could substitute in the crust? Many thanks!
Hi Jen,
Thanks for your sweet compliments about the dessert and the baby!! ;)
The almonds in the crust are quite easy to swap. Are you allergic to any other nuts or just almonds?
If it’s just almonds, then you could add an equal amount of any other nuts or a mix of walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts.
If you need to swap all the nuts, then you could use sunflower seeds or even cookies (like digestive) or even cereal (I like a natural organic brand called Nature’s Path).
I hope this helps and you’ll make these soon ;) Let me know what you decide to swap and how they turn out so that others know.
*hugs* ella
Walnuts and pecans sound amazing — I’ll try that. Looking forward to making (and eating) these! :) Thanks again.
Hi Ella.. Ella is here. Guess what, I also have 2 small daughters and a food blog :). I just come across and I am impressed of your work. Lovely food photography! I like how you prepared these small dessert bites. I’ll give them a try one day.
All the best to your little Lady Amelia!
Well hello Ella!!! ;)
It’s like I’m writing to my double!! How cool that we have so much ;)
So happy to connect, thanks for checking out my blog… I LOVE yours ;)
xo ella
Ella, these look utterly adorable.
But…not quite adorable as that tiny little package in the yellow stripy jumpsuit – who is completely divine!
And – as ever – stunning photos. Xx
You are so sweet to make treats for visitors. And they look incredibly delicious. Oh that little bundle of baby though!! Goodness how adorable!!
I am absolutely in awe of the fact you have a tiny newborn, and yet have the time and energy to create these fabulous little cheesecakes. When I had a newborn I could barely manage to order take-out! You baby is gorgeous – congrats!
Thank you for your congratulations ;)
Ahem, to clarify…. that first week was SO much easier than it is now at 1 month! lol
Definitely the few sleep-deprived nights did not have an affect of me yet – like they do at over 30 sleep-deprived days later!
But also, these mini cheesecakes are TOO easy to make ;) They literally take 10-15 minutes to prep for and whip up, then they just need to be chilled…
and it’s a real treat to sit down and eat something so good even when I’m stressed and tired…
they also keep well stashed in the freezer for any-time dessert ;)
Thanks for stopping by Pure Ella! Do let me know if you’ll be making these desserts and how you like them ;)
xoxo ella
Just made this yesterday and it was a hit! My kids love it very much. Thank you so much for sharing. Your newborn daughter is so cute!
That’s great to hear that your kids loved them! ;)
That just made my day!
And thanks for your sweet words about Amelia ~ the is a cutie and oh my, so much bigger now than on this picture ;)
Kids grow too fast ;)
xo
Beautiful cheesecakes and baby! These look like a great summer dessert–bookmarking!
Beautiful recipe, beautiful images, beautiful baby girl! Ack! So cute! <3
Thank you for all that you do!
Pinned!
K-
Can’t wait to try these this weekend, need a batch of 24. Got all the stuff together, will confirm how these go
Archena- the recipe doesn’t say how many this makes. Would you let me know if you had to double the recipe for the 24 you were making? I realize this was a couple of years ago, so hope you can remember. Thank you, Dena
Hi Dena,
So I used mini cupcake silicone pans.
The sizes were great for a single serving and it made about 18 pieces.
+ I had some of the base leftover that we made straight into balls and ate them before the cheesecakes were done ;)
If you’re doing this to make 24 pieces, you could do 1 1/2 of the cheesecake portion or just double to make two portions. These ARE always great to have extra (even for yourself as you can just keep in the freezer :))
And the base ingredients should make enough for 24 (However, it also would depend on how thick you make the base and the size of the cupcakes, if you used muffin size pans, then you’d need to make extra)
I hope this helps and you and the happy crowd will enjoy these soon :)
Please do let me know how they go down… I would love feedback. And if you share on social media, it would be lovely to see a photo :)
Best. xx ella
Hi Ella
I love your blog. Can you tell me how. Many cheesecakes this recipe makes?
Hi Nicole,
My apologies for not replying to your question sooner.
I don’t know how I missed this question….
If you’re still interested in making these, they make about 12-18 cups.
Depending on how wide your cupcake mould is and how short or tall you make them – you can stretch the number out – shorter ones would yield more cakes if you need a larger quantity but they would just be smaller serving sizes. I hope that makes sense :) xoxo ella
Hello,
Please could you tell me if the “cup” measurements are UK or US or European “cups” ?
Looking forward tomaking these with my daughter this week end.
A bug hug,
Cara
Hi Cara, Thanks for your question.
It is a US size. So about 220g :)
That is so sweet to make them with your daughter…. Let me know how you both like them :)
God dammit. Why do all these recipes have sweetener. I can’t have anything other than pure unaltered fruit. No syrup, no stevia, no nothing. It frustrates me beyond belief that this recipie requires syrup which has 14 grams of sugar per tablespoon (aka 112 grams)
Sorry George…. I know it can be frustrating.
How come no Stevia?
Can you eat the dates in the base? (dried fruit)
Also, my suggestion would be to choose a sweeter fruit, like cherries and use that instead of the raspberries.
I hope this helps.
Also, there’s yakon syrup and monkfruit as well as stevia that have very little or no sugar calories.
Hope this helps.
Hugs,
ella